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NEWS: Madoka Magica English-Dubbed Trailer Streamed

Except

You know

It IS a complex psychoanalyzation of its genre with a ton of symbolism. From what I've heard, it's near Bokurano levels of depressing and tragic

PMMM has had many articles here at ANN

And spare me the "deconstruction" manure. As if this show is some complex, psychoanalysation of its genre, with deep symbolic meaning.

"[The anime] skillfully [set] critical traps that shook the very foundations of the genre, leaving viewers unsure about the premises upon which this otherwise common theme of the 'magical girl' is based" and "revolutionary energy that always strives to change things"

I wouldn't call it bigger than Haruhi, we have yet to see a religion being made out of it.

I don't recall hearing anyone at AWO or on the ANNCast discuss it.

I'm not insulting the show or anything, I've just honestly not heard much about it, and the trailer doesn't make it seem great. That's my entire point in this thread, that the trailer is a bad one if it's misleading.

Maybe I'll give it a shot.

504NOSON2 wrote:

And spare me the "deconstruction" manure. As if this show is some complex, psychoanalysation of its genre, with deep symbolic meaning.

While "deconstruction" has been thrown around a lot, there is actually some merit to that. In fact, just as much was said by the award-givers for the Japan Media Arts Festival's Animation Division Grand Prize.

JMAF wrote:

"[The anime] skillfully [set] critical traps that shook the very foundations of the genre, leaving viewers unsure about the premises upon which this otherwise common theme of the 'magical girl' is based" and "revolutionary energy that always strives to change things"

dtm42 wrote:

PMMM has had many articles here at ANN

I count 24 this year. Also, I find several of the recent fan responses here to be needlessly antagonistic. If I were a potential new viewer, I would be put off by this.

Potential new viewers, please give this show a try. I recommend watching at least three or four episodes.

Though I think the visuals are good enough to get through those episodes personally.

J-Syxx wrote:

You sound like a clueless dolt, because the show gets darker later on. It's a parody/deconstruction of the mahou shoujo genre. This is why it's not wise to have strong "opinions" on things you know nothing about.

I don't wish to engage in a festival of hurling insults with someone, whom I assume is a grown man, that's already been banned for being a rude, abhorrent, childish troll. But, how do I "know nothing about" the show, when I've watched two episodes? And how are my "opinions strong", when I decided to actually watch a show within a genre I generally detest, concluded the show was perishable, was later sold on it, and then decided to continue? Maybe another time-out is needed for you, mister. It isn't that serious. I suspect there's more going on here than just an extremely weird obsession with this show.

And spare me the "deconstruction" manure. As if this show is some complex psychoanalysation of its genre, with deep symbolic meaning.

Also, I find several of the recent fan responses here to be needlessly antagonistic. If I were a potential new viewer, I would be put off by this.

yeshayden wrote:

dtm42 wrote: PMMM has had many articles here at ANN I count 24 this year. Also, I find several of the recent fan responses here to be needlessly antagonistic. If I were a potential new viewer, I would be put off by this. Potential new viewers, please give this show a try. I recommend watching at least three or four episodes.

agreed, I've been intentionally not responding to anything too nasty because I'm not interested in getting into it, but if I were a new fan/potential viewer all this nasty antagonism towards people who genuinely don't know anything about the series is unwarranted. There is life outside of what's hot in anime right now, no need to treat them like ignorant twats, you're not convincing them to give this show a chance.

A trailer's job is to convince me to watch a show or movie. This trailer has convinced me NOT to.

There could be more than meets the eye.

Even 4chan didn't talk that much about it. I've seen more threads about Penguindrum.

I don't recall hearing anyone at AWO or on the ANNCast discuss it.

Before I get started, this entry contains some spoilers, so if you don't like spoilers, please don't read on.

I watch a lot of anime, but there are two genres I really never watch: anime for kids and anime for girls.

The title of Magical Girl Madoka Magica has the words "magical girl" in it, and it reminded me of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, a show that I didn't care for. Whether or not Nanoha was for little girls aside, I didn't get through all of the show, but I did watch enough to get a feel for the story in general. At first, when I saw Madoka I had a feeling it was going to be a Nanoha knockoff. Right from the beginning, I thought it was starting off and proceeding in a similar way, so I quit watching it.

Really, and this doesn't just apply to anime, there are lots of works, such as dramas, that just make minor changes to characters and setting and leave almost everything else the same. However, the world is an interesting thing [I may have this line wrong], and even if people know the story is borrowing heavily from something, and even if they know how the story is going to turn out, there are a lot of people that can enjoy watching that kind of show. If that weren't true, there would be no good explanation for the large audience of works like Mitokoumon [a period drama that has run since 1969 and is still going!], which have what we can call a VSOP (Very Special One Pattern).

I know from experience that the reality of it is that there are a lot of people who want to watch something that they "know" because they get a sense of security from watching a story unfold when they know how it is going to end, even if they don't know that particular story. Because of this, I had a feeling that Madoka was going to be "that kind" of anime, which is why I quit watching it.

However, from the ward residents who like anime [not sure what ward], I heard that Madoka was really good and they recommended it to me, so I went back to watching it. When someone recommends a work to me, chances are good I'll take that recommendation to mean it's something with merit, so I gave Madoka an honest chance.

The characters have a cute and likable design that young girls would like. At the same time, the style is similar to what guys who like cute characters would enjoy. As I mentioned before, I don't really have much interest in young girl characters; I prefer other character designs to these.

That said, by the time I finished the third episode, the kind of show this really was became apparent, and I realized this wasn't a show for kids. This show presents questions and philosophical messages and asks the audience to think about them.

For whom do people labor?
Is it for the sake of others?
Is it for their own sake?
What will people do when they come face-to-face with death?

This show is full of deception. For instance, don't be fooled by the cutsey character designs; what happens in the story is actually rather brutal.

When people do something for others... Are they really doing it for others?
When people do something for themselves... Are they really doing it just for themselves?
Those who you think are good... are they really good?
Those who seem bad... are they really bad?
What will people do when they are betrayed?
If you hold people to a standard, will you be angry when you are betrayed?
Or if you have lost faith in people, will you take betrayal in stride without being angered?

What you thought you did for the best turns out to work against you.
What you thought you did for the best brings disaster to others.

The best of intentions won't necessarily mean the best result, for yourself or others. But there are people who live selfishly, and maybe it is because of that selfishness that they are able to live?

In order to gain this strong power, one must sacrifice something; without a sacrifice, the power of a "magical girl" cannot be obtained. People may not understand you're trying to help them, even if you devote your efforts to them. Magical girls are not ordinary people; that is, compared to a normal person, a very unreasonable demand is placed on them. Thus we call a normal person of whom an unreasonable demand is made a magical girl. "If you're going to say it, then why don't you walk the talk? (Though there is no certainty you can.)" It is very interesting to replace "magical girl" with "statesmen" in this paragraph and think about it that way.

Indeed, statesmen are not ordinary people. And because we do not think of them as ordinary people, by placing such demands on an ordinary person, we recognize those people as statesmen. [I don't think this is a totally accurate translation, but it gets the gist.] But if statesmen who seem to be able to walk their talk were not in actuality far removed from the best of ordinary people, they wouldn't even have that capacity. And so, because a statesman grows distant from ordinary people, it becomes difficult to decide how one [statesman] should conduct himself.

I think I understand why Madoka is referred to as "Chidamari Sketch" now. [This is a pun on "Hidamari Sketch" which as you may know is a comic about young artists by Ume Aoki, who drew the character designs for Madoka. "Hidamari" means sunshine. "Chidamari" means puddle of blood.]

This is an anime that adults should watch.

If I'm banned, then why I'm here replying to you? Apparently, you like talking about lots of things you're clueless about. There's a few five letter words in the dictionary that describe a person that does that.

On a complete side note, I have yet to see Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, but I plan on watching it in the second half of next year. I believe it shares the same director as PMMM, so it would be interesting to at least check it out.

Look, we've already been warned. But, word of advice: try to use some common sense in the future. I was obviously referring to your being banned in the past, which you and I both know you're aware of.